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Reinsdorf confident about spring move

Reinsdorf confident about Glendale move

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By Scott Merkin
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MLB.com |

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Although the White Sox haven't appeared to move any closer to finding a team to replace them at Tucson Electric Park for Spring Training 2009, club chairman Jerry Reinsdorf feels moderately confident that his group will be in Glendale, Ariz., with the Dodgers when the facility opens next spring.

"Moderately confident is a good way to describe it," Reinsdorf told MLB.com. "We still have to work something out with Pima County to get released, but we have a plan that we think makes sense for them."

Reinsdorf did not reveal any further details about this particular plan, other than to add it would still be a few months before the issue was resolved. The White Sox lease in Tucson runs through 2012, and in order to leave for the new Glendale facility, which is on track to be finished in time for the 2009 Cactus League season, according to Reinsdorf, the White Sox have to find a replacement that also is acceptable to Pima County.

Cincinnati appeared to be a possibility, but the National League squad now could be headed to Goodyear, Ariz. The city identified $33 million in its budget to support the team's move, where the Reds would share a complex with their in-state rival, Cleveland.

This new plan to Pima County proposed by the White Sox would provide an additional option to the team replacement.

As far as talk concerning the Cubs playing part of their season at U.S. Cellular Field during their proposed future Wrigley Field renovation project, Reinsdorf knew nothing of this far-reaching idea.

"The only thing I know about it is what I've read in the papers," said Reinsdorf with a smile.

In order for this possibility to even exist, Wrigley Field would have to be sold to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. U.S. Cellular Field already is run and operated by the ISFA, and Reinsdorf said he would tackle this specific concept if the idea ever became more concrete.

Allowing the Cubs to play at the home of the White Sox might not ring true for the South Side faithful, if it ever became some sort of consideration. It's also a topic that general manager Ken Williams chose to avoid, even in the hypothetical.